This article looks as though it was lifted from The Onion. I am suspicious of the validity of the whole thing.

The story has also been reported on other UK news sites, though it's possible they're all owned by the same company (not familiar with that).

I doubt it is a total hoax (as in, it never happened), but I wouldn't be surprised if the story was hyped up to pander to the "tabloid crowd." It does have a "Parade Magazine" vibe about it.

It's also possible the kid is doing this intentionally to gain attention for himself. It's purely speculative, but I wonder if his father is on one of the rescue teams, and he and his rescue buddies are going along with it to get some press (and collect some overtime). It would also help explain some of the silly staged "look like a loser" photographs.

p.s. TakeFive - you might do well to look up on how the RNLI works before making such an unfounded and demeaning speculative post.

I identified it as purely speculation, and it should be taken as such. It certainly is not meant to demean RNLI or anyone else, and I can understand your belief that no rescuer would EVER risk his life in a masquerade like that. Deep down I believe that too, but I also know that stranger things have happened. It's extremely rare, but firefighters have been known to start fires. It happens. I doubt something like that happened here, but the cynical part of me refuses to completely rule it out.

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